Friday, February 7, 2014

Florida Panel Passes ‘Common Sense’ Tweak To School Gun Policies

A bill backed by the National Rifle Association that lawmakers said would add “common sense” to zero-tolerance policies for guns in public schools sailed through a House education panel on Wednesday.

The measure (PCB KTS 14-02) by House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, would prevent children from being disciplined for simulating a gun while playing or wearing clothes that depict firearms.

Baxley called the measure “the pop-tart bill” — a reference to a widely reported news story about a Maryland 7-year-old who was suspended from school last year for chewing his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

“Obviously we don’t want firearms brought to school in a backpack,” Baxley said. “But we were definitely having some over-reactions.”

According to national news reports, incidents have included punishing students for drawing a picture of a gun, using a finger as an imaginary gun while making the sound of a gun, owning a miniature gun on a keychain, owning a gun made of Legos and wearing a National Rifle Association T-shirt to school.

Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, a Maitland Democrat and a public-school teacher, said the zero-tolerance policies often prevent administrators from using their common sense “because their hands are tied. I support the bill so that people will be able to have that flexibility.”

My opinion is that schools should be allowed to have their own dress codes. A kid wearing a t-shirt that says FUCK in big letters might be banned without violating his rights. Same with images of guns or NRA insignia, if the school wants. But as for the pop-tarts and the pistol-shaped pizza, this is just hysteria on the part of those trying to understand and enforce the no-tolerance rules.

Ethan Chaplin, a seventh-grade student at Glen Meadow Middle School, was twirling his pencil in math class when a fellow student suddenly yelled out, “He’s making gun motions, send him to juvie!”

Ethan was immediately taken to the principal’s office, suspended, and told he would not be able to return to school until he passed a psychological evaluation.

So, what did the "evaluation" entail?

The child was stripped, had to give blood samples (which caused him to pass out) and urine samples for of all things drug testing.

Yep--because another kid (who seems to have had his own agenda against the victim) claimed that the way he held a pencil was "making gun motions" (whatever that means), the dangerous young pencilslinger had to be left naked, bleeding, and unconscious.

Own it, Mikeb--this is the "gun control" mindset, in all its hideous "glory." This is your side in action.